The Other Dark Lord
by P.B. Lee
Summary: Clothes as black as empty space. Lightsaber as red as blood. Rage as strong as his might in the Force. These are the traits that complete one of the most sad characters of Star Wars history. And it's not Darth Vader. It's Darth Aronis, the Other Dark Lord
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: **I know we've all been fascinated by order 66. In the poetic, terrible tragedy sequence when we watch the Jedi become the victims of their loyal clone troopers. I was watching Episode III the other day and I thought to myself _What about the Sith? What about the Sith? _So, I decided to write a story about a Sith who lived during the Clone Wars. This is the tale of Tyler Stargazer—Darth Aronis.

** Prologue **

Memories

**The alien leapt forward, its maw gaping ajar. Tyler Spacegazer rolled away just in time, the monster's jaws closing just a hair's breadth from him. His green lightsaber ignited as he force-pushed the monstrous being. Blaster fire lit the air and he easily deflected bolts with the glowing green beam, sending them ricocheting off in random directions, or, if he was lucky, into the droids attacking him. **

**All the while he moved forwards, chopping silently through their ranks, his Jedi robes flapping about him. Around him, his fellow Jedi ruthlessly attacked their opponents, cutting down the droids with sober expressions on their calm faces, moving quickly about their business. They were warriors all, fighting for peace and freedom for the Universe. **

**Tyler dodged under a battle-droid's extended arm and cut him in half. The last droid fell to the ground. Around them, the burning world faded then blinked away, storing itself in its digital file. Master Yoda limped towards them, "Good, good," he murmured to the younglings. "Very good." A single student still stood, his face illuminated in the dim setting by his training lightsaber. "Deactivate your weapon, you must, Tyler Stargazer." **

**The youngling gazed longingly at the weapon but eventually switched it off. Yoda "mmmed" disappointedly. "Done are we for today, younglings." The younglings all ran off. Only Stargazer remained. "Is there a problem, Tyler?" **

**"Master—I felt something—something—good, warm, powerful during the simulation and I was just—" **

**"Mmm, experience the dark side of the force, you have," said Yoda slowly. "A path down which many tread, unfortunately. Careful, many lose their sight in to such feelings." **

**"I won't, master," Tyler said, bowing obediently. "I'll never turn against the Jedi." **

**"Good it does to my heart to hear you say that, youngling," said Yoda cheerfully. "Fallen, if you were, you would be a great threat to the Jedi." It took Tyler a moment to realize that the master was paying him a compliment. He bowed and gratefully thanked the Jedi Master. As he exited, he placed the training saber on the platter, his hand sliding along it longingly. **

**"Concentrate, padawan, concentrate!" **

**Tyler kneeled alone in the middle of a vast temple. It was a Jedi Crystal Cave. Here he was receiving his crystal to make his lightsaber. For three years he had slaved to accumulate the other pieces. He was the last in his class to do so. But he finally located everything and went with one of the master's to the crystal cave. Tyler was unfortunate. Mace Windu was a fearsome fighter. **

**Unfortunately, he was also a fearsome teacher. **

**Focusing his center, Tyler Stargazer focused intensely. His mind was clear, his soul free and floating outside of his body, peacefully constructing the weapon that would end the lives of so many. "Very good. Now, listen closely," said the constructor. If Tyler listened to the instructor, he'd lose his concentration. Thus, he kept his mind on his slow work. "The crystal is the heart of a Jedi," began the instructor. Tyler's crystal came to an abrupt stop, floating before him in the air. **

**"The Jedi is the Crystal of the Force," Mace continued, watching young Stargazer interestedly. The crystal's two golden container pieces floated up. "The crystal is the heart of the lightsaber." The two container pieces floated up on either side of the crystal. "The lightsaber is the focus of the Jedi." The container clicked together, sealing the crystal within. "The Jedi is the focus of the Force." The lightsaber encasing split apart then sealed over the crystal container. **

**In Tyler's hand, the weapon roared to life, activating a green beam instantly. **

**"You've done well, Stargazer," said Mace Windu. "Return to the Jedi Order. Your new master awaits you in your quarters." **

**"Master Windu?" Tyler Stargazer had entered his quarters anxiously. Who was his new master going to be? Would it be an unknown, rising Jedi Knight or an ancient master who already sat on the exalted council? He found it to be the latter. He found it to be the solemn Mace Windu standing calmly and coolly in his quarters as if they were his own. "You are my new master?" **

**"Yes," said Mace casually. "I trust that's not a problem, my apprentice." **

**"No, master," Tyler said quickly, moving fully into the room. The door slid shut behind him. **

**"I am pleased to hear it," Mace said with a thin smile. **

**"But master, you have to take me with you!" **

**"No, Tyler, I cannot take you to Geonosis," said Windu. "It's too dangerous. Your training is not yet complete!" **

**"But you've taught me all you know, master! You've taught me vaapad and you've taught me to use the Force! You've taught me to channel my fear and—" **

**"The answer is no, padawan," said Mace coolly. "Be waiting for my return." With that Mace stepped up the ladder to his Jedi Fighter and slid into the cockpit. Tyler stepped back as the engines flared to life. The Jedi Fighter slid into the air and then zoomed away with the other space ships. Mace never looked back. **

**Tyler's fists closed into balls of rage. **


	2. Pt 1 Chpt 1 Not a Jedi

**I**

**PART ONE**

Jedi Knight

**Chapter One **

Not a Jedi

**I **

**No longer was he a Jedi. **

**It's what he kept telling himself as the memories slipped through his mind. **

**Not a Jedi. **

**His path was his and his alone. No council would tell him what to do. No master would choose his path for him. He was the master of his own fate. Rage and hate were his friends, they helped him battle those who were stronger than him and defeat those who would have him eradicated. An enemy to everyone. **

**This was the life Tyler Stargazer. **

**The solemn figure sat calmly atop the ruins of the old temple. It was here that he had chosen to leave the Jedi Order and it was here that he would make his home. **

**Tyler's abandonment of the order began when Mace Windu, his beloved master, and the man so like a father to him for seven long years, had left him behind. Left him behind at the order because he did not think he was strong enough, or wise enough, or whatever the case was. So Tyler left. The Jedi were a dying order anyway, it's what everyone on Coruscant was saying. **

**The man hunted by the good and the evil sat atop the Massassi Temple, not far from his Jedi starfighter. The walls of his mind were open and he listened to the forest bustling around him, locating his center. It was here on Yavin 4, a moon quite near his home planet, that he felt safe. But he sensed the evil within the great ziggurat on which he had perched himself—the soul of a great dark lord. **

**All of the sudden, something broke his concentration. His eyes flickered open to see a monstrous, deformed monster standing before him. Cursing, he flipped backwards as the monster stabbed a glowing red lightsaber down. Narrowly avoiding the red blade, he deftly sliced off the monster's head. **_**Perhaps this place isn't as safe as I thought**_**, Tyler thought to himself. **

**Hurrying to his blue starfighter, he shut the cockpit and activated the engines. "Alright, R5, bring us up to speed." The astro-droid beeped and whistled. The starfighter floated up into the air and then the engines flared to life, slinging the starfighter into the sky and away from the planet. Tyler sighed. "Just when I thought I was safe, I get attacked by some ugly deformed Massassi," Tyler murmured to himself. **

**R5 beeped understandingly. "No, you don't understand," said Tyler coolly. He quietly added, "No one understands." The starfighter drifted off. Tyler knew he needed fuel. "What's the nearest planet, R5?" R5 did a series of bleeps and whistles. "Cloud city? Hmm—never heard of it—Alright then. Set course for cloud city, said Tyler. He switched the starfighter to autopilot and relaxed, watching the stars pass by only absently, his mind far away. **

**What was he even doing out here? Why had he chosen this wretched life to lead? Death was not an option, but all he wanted was to be free, to be the ruler of his own fate. Why was fate so cruel? Did anyone really care about him, a man with no purpose left to his pathetic life? **

**A blaster bolt jerked him from his self-pitying. **

**Instantly he seized the controls and switched off the autopilot as R5 beeped off a warning squeal. "I see them," Tyler said. The sky alit with ion cannon fire as red bolts leapt past his perfectly painted, commandeered starfighter. Droid fighters were firing at him, thinking him a Jedi Knight. "Oh, no you don't!" the former Jedi cried. He ripped the starfighter backwards, sending it into a somersault that took him behind the two droids. "Gotcha," he murmured, his targeting computer locking on. The unused, dual laser cannons screamed to life, cutting both of the droids out of the sky simultaneously. **

**It was then that Tyler realized the battle raging around him. Clone battle ships were cutting through the skies. Republic attack cruisers slipped smoothly, giants in the battle of miniscule fighters. ARC-170s hummed as they spiraled through space, sending green laser bolts slicing at droids. "Starfighter 2270, do you copy?" A clone commander was trying to contact him over his radio. **

**Tyler switched the radio off and twirled away from a droid fighter, dodging around one of the clone battle ships as laser fire erupted behind him. His skills behind the cockpit unmatched by any droid, the droid unsuccessfully crashed into the republic attack cruiser, doing no harm to it, but exploding in smithereens itself. Tyler dove and wove through the plagued space. Lasers glanced off his starfighter, grazing his ship and making his spew foul curses. "Don't shoot my ship," he spat through gritted teeth. **

**But it was already too late. Blaster fire sounded and instantly Tyler felt the surge of his engines dying. R5 started beeping crazily. "I know, I know!" said Tyler. Cursing his luck, his ship plunged towards the cloudy planet. To his luck, a star freighter passed by far below. If he could get to it, he might survive. If he stayed in his fighter, he'd die indefinitely. Punching the trigger to the cockpit, Tyler leapt out, his body contorting as it was thrown about through the sky like a rag doll, ripping away his cloak. **

**Using the force, Tyler sent his body spinning down towards the freighter. If he missed the heavily armed clone transport, at least it'd be a long ride to his death. Steering himself, he came down right on time, grabbing the side door with one free hand. The man was amazed. He'd made it! He'd made it! The clones stared at him, stunned themselves. **

"**Help!" he demanded. Three clones grabbed him, two under the arm pits, the third around the stomach, and pulled him in. "Thank you," Tyler said, grabbing his lightsaber. "What's going on?" **

**"The Sepratists are attacking Cloud City, sir," said the clone. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, who are you?" **

**"That is irrelevant," Tyler said quickly. "Move to your positions. We attack the Sepratists!" **


End file.
